As you'd expect from a capital city, Sapporo has the best range of restaurants in Hokkaido, and many of them are very good value, if not downright cheap. There are also plenty of cafés, including branches of the ever-reliable Mr. Donut and Doutor . The pick of the restaurants are clustered around the Susukino area, but there's also a good range of places above and beneath Sapporo Station, within the major department stores and at the Factory shopping mall, east of the city centre.

Sapporo is renowned for its ramen noodles - try the version called bata-kon , which is a noodle broth of butter and corn. A more expensive local speciality is the jingisukan , or "Genghis Khan" barbecue, a delicious feast of flame-grilled lamb and vegetables available at many restaurants and at all the beer gardens. At the beer gardens you'll be provided with a plastic bib to protect against dribbles from the dipping sauce, but it's still best to dress down, since the smell of sizzled mutton lingers long after you've left. At both the Sapporo and Kirin beer gardens you can pig out on as much barbecue and beer as you can get down you within one hundred minutes for a set price, but you'll find the quality of mutton much better at the smaller Susukino jingisukan joints.

It's best to book ahead at the restaurants where we give a telephone number